Using biotelemetry to assess drone effects on whale sharks

Reynolds, Samantha D.; Redcliffe, James; Cornet, Valerie J.; Raoult, Vincent; Holton, Mark; Wilson, Rory; Norman, Bradley M.

doi:10.1002/ecs2.70575

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Using biotelemetry to assess drone effects on whale sharks

Samantha D. Reynolds

, James Redcliffe, Valerie J. Cornet, Vincent Raoult, Mark Holton

, Rory Wilson

, Bradley M. Norman

Ecosphere, Volume: 17, Issue: 4, Start page: e70575

Swansea University Authors: James Redcliffe, Mark Holton , Rory Wilson

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© 2026 The Author(s). Ecosphere published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
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DOI (Published version): 10.1002/ecs2.70575

Abstract

The use of unoccupied aerial vehicles or drones for wildlife research has proliferated in recent years and they have proven to be a valuable tool for collecting data for population surveys, morphometric and body condition measurements, and for observing behavior. The need to assess the impacts of dr...

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Published in:	Ecosphere
ISSN:	2150-8925 2150-8925
Published:	Wiley 2026
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70909

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last_indexed	2026-05-01T04:21:27Z
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The need to assess the impacts of drones themselves on wildlife is increasingly being recognized, not only for ethical considerations but also before attempting to record “natural behavior.” While effects of drones have been seen in some marine species, such as whales, dolphins, and seabirds, these are highly variable across and within taxa and are typically assessed through observations of behavior. Effects on water-breathing animals are understudied. Drones have already been used in studies of the world's largest fish, the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), but their effects on the species are yet to be quantified. This study is the first to use biotelemetric data to assess the effects of drones on the natural behavior of a water-breathing marine species. Rather than relying on observations of behavior that can be impacted by observer bias, we employed behavioral data-logging tags, incorporating tri-axial accelerometers and magnetometers, to record fine-scale whale shark activity and diving behavior in the presence and absence of a drone. Activity was measured by the vector sum of the dynamic body acceleration (VeDBA), calculated as the vector sum of the dynamic components of tri-axial acceleration, and tail beat frequency (TBF) as an indicator of swimming effort. Generalized linear mixed modeling found no evidence that drone presence (10–60 m altitude) or its vertical movement (ascent/descent) increased whale sharks' diving or activity compared to when the drone was absent. Our study provides confidence to researchers and managers that drones are a minimally invasive research tool for whale sharks, although we advocate a precautionary approach to their use and consideration of their potential effects on non-target species. 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spelling	2026-04-29T10:27:55.9938428 v2 70909 2025-11-14 Using biotelemetry to assess drone effects on whale sharks 4046e46611e52bf1ee798d17411df8e9 James Redcliffe James Redcliffe true false 0e1d89d0cc934a740dcd0a873aed178e 0000-0001-8834-3283 Mark Holton Mark Holton true false 017bc6dd155098860945dc6249c4e9bc 0000-0003-3177-0177 Rory Wilson Rory Wilson true false 2025-11-14 BGPS The use of unoccupied aerial vehicles or drones for wildlife research has proliferated in recent years and they have proven to be a valuable tool for collecting data for population surveys, morphometric and body condition measurements, and for observing behavior. The need to assess the impacts of drones themselves on wildlife is increasingly being recognized, not only for ethical considerations but also before attempting to record “natural behavior.” While effects of drones have been seen in some marine species, such as whales, dolphins, and seabirds, these are highly variable across and within taxa and are typically assessed through observations of behavior. Effects on water-breathing animals are understudied. Drones have already been used in studies of the world's largest fish, the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), but their effects on the species are yet to be quantified. This study is the first to use biotelemetric data to assess the effects of drones on the natural behavior of a water-breathing marine species. Rather than relying on observations of behavior that can be impacted by observer bias, we employed behavioral data-logging tags, incorporating tri-axial accelerometers and magnetometers, to record fine-scale whale shark activity and diving behavior in the presence and absence of a drone. Activity was measured by the vector sum of the dynamic body acceleration (VeDBA), calculated as the vector sum of the dynamic components of tri-axial acceleration, and tail beat frequency (TBF) as an indicator of swimming effort. Generalized linear mixed modeling found no evidence that drone presence (10–60 m altitude) or its vertical movement (ascent/descent) increased whale sharks' diving or activity compared to when the drone was absent. Our study provides confidence to researchers and managers that drones are a minimally invasive research tool for whale sharks, although we advocate a precautionary approach to their use and consideration of their potential effects on non-target species. Furthermore, our method of objectively assessing the effects of drones using biotelemetry could be effectively applied to a wide range of species inhabiting the aquatic, terrestrial, and aerial environments, facilitating comparisons within and among species, and allowing multispecies or ecosystem assessments. Journal Article Ecosphere 17 4 e70575 Wiley 2150-8925 2150-8925 animal behavior, biotelemetry, human disturbance, noninvasive monitoring, remote sensing, unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV) 1 4 2026 2026-04-01 10.1002/ecs2.70575 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee Estate of Winifred Violet Scott; Jock Clough Marine Foundation; RAC Parks and Resorts; Three Islands Whale Shark Dive; Open access publishing facilitated by Murdoch University, as part of the Wiley - Murdoch University agreement via the Council of Australasian University Librarians. 2026-04-29T10:27:55.9938428 2025-11-14T20:37:16.5392217 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Samantha D. Reynolds 0000-0003-4094-8018 1 James Redcliffe 2 Valerie J. Cornet 3 Vincent Raoult 4 Mark Holton 0000-0001-8834-3283 5 Rory Wilson 0000-0003-3177-0177 6 Bradley M. Norman 7 70909__36632__9f3daff6acf043a5804b70b38494cc31.pdf 70909.VOR.pdf 2026-04-29T10:25:24.5457011 Output 25277661 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2026 The Author(s). Ecosphere published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Using biotelemetry to assess drone effects on whale sharks
spellingShingle	Using biotelemetry to assess drone effects on whale sharks James Redcliffe Mark Holton Rory Wilson
title_short	Using biotelemetry to assess drone effects on whale sharks
title_full	Using biotelemetry to assess drone effects on whale sharks
title_fullStr	Using biotelemetry to assess drone effects on whale sharks
title_full_unstemmed	Using biotelemetry to assess drone effects on whale sharks
title_sort	Using biotelemetry to assess drone effects on whale sharks
author_id_str_mv	4046e46611e52bf1ee798d17411df8e9 0e1d89d0cc934a740dcd0a873aed178e 017bc6dd155098860945dc6249c4e9bc
author_id_fullname_str_mv	4046e46611e52bf1ee798d17411df8e9_*_James Redcliffe 0e1d89d0cc934a740dcd0a873aed178e__Mark Holton 017bc6dd155098860945dc6249c4e9bc_**_Rory Wilson
author	James Redcliffe Mark Holton Rory Wilson
author2	Samantha D. Reynolds James Redcliffe Valerie J. Cornet Vincent Raoult Mark Holton Rory Wilson Bradley M. Norman
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doi_str_mv	10.1002/ecs2.70575
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description	The use of unoccupied aerial vehicles or drones for wildlife research has proliferated in recent years and they have proven to be a valuable tool for collecting data for population surveys, morphometric and body condition measurements, and for observing behavior. The need to assess the impacts of drones themselves on wildlife is increasingly being recognized, not only for ethical considerations but also before attempting to record “natural behavior.” While effects of drones have been seen in some marine species, such as whales, dolphins, and seabirds, these are highly variable across and within taxa and are typically assessed through observations of behavior. Effects on water-breathing animals are understudied. Drones have already been used in studies of the world's largest fish, the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), but their effects on the species are yet to be quantified. This study is the first to use biotelemetric data to assess the effects of drones on the natural behavior of a water-breathing marine species. Rather than relying on observations of behavior that can be impacted by observer bias, we employed behavioral data-logging tags, incorporating tri-axial accelerometers and magnetometers, to record fine-scale whale shark activity and diving behavior in the presence and absence of a drone. Activity was measured by the vector sum of the dynamic body acceleration (VeDBA), calculated as the vector sum of the dynamic components of tri-axial acceleration, and tail beat frequency (TBF) as an indicator of swimming effort. Generalized linear mixed modeling found no evidence that drone presence (10–60 m altitude) or its vertical movement (ascent/descent) increased whale sharks' diving or activity compared to when the drone was absent. Our study provides confidence to researchers and managers that drones are a minimally invasive research tool for whale sharks, although we advocate a precautionary approach to their use and consideration of their potential effects on non-target species. Furthermore, our method of objectively assessing the effects of drones using biotelemetry could be effectively applied to a wide range of species inhabiting the aquatic, terrestrial, and aerial environments, facilitating comparisons within and among species, and allowing multispecies or ecosystem assessments.
published_date	2026-04-01T06:12:16Z
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Using biotelemetry to assess drone effects on whale sharks

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